The idea that a country or region should specialise in making and exporting goods and services that it can produce most efficiently.
The US introduced industrial power and new weapons. To protect their country from being taken over by the US or another foreign power, Japan decided to become a "western" power. The US opening Japan to trade exposed them to the methods of a modern country.
<span><span>so merchants could keep track of transactions </span>is closest to being correct, and icabod has it mostly "write". </span>
It was horrible, they were treated very badly as slaves?!
